Living systems operate far from thermodynamic equilibrium. Enzymatic activity can induce
broken detailed balance at the molecular scale. This molecular scale breaking of detailed …

Since their invention in 1986 by Arthur Ashkin and colleagues, optical tweezers have
become an essential tool in several fields of physics, spectroscopy, biology …

Optical tweezers are tools made of light that enable contactless pushing, trap**, and
manipulation of objects, ranging from atoms to space light sails. Since the pioneering work …

Biological cells generate intricate structures by sculpting their membrane from within to
actively sense and respond to external stimuli or to explore their environment,,–. Several …

Living systems are complex dynamic entities that operate far from thermodynamic
equilibrium. Their active, non-equilibrium behaviour requires energy to drive cellular …

The study of systems with sustained energy uptake and dissipation at the scale of the
constituent particles is an area of central interest in nonequilibrium statistical physics …

These lecture notes are designed to provide a brief introduction into the phenomenology of
active matter and to present some of the analytical tools used to rationalize the emergent …

Living cells are viscoelastic materials, dominated by an elastic response on timescales
longer than a millisecond. On shorter timescales, the dynamics of individual cytoskeleton …

T cells are critically important for host defense against infections. T cell activation is specific
because signal initiation requires T cell receptor (TCR) recognition of foreign antigen …

Active matter agents consume internal energy or extract energy from the environment for
locomotion and force generation. Already, rather generic models, such as ensembles of …